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19 July 2011 early edition/transcript/Part 20
Part 20 THERESE COFFEY: I had assumed that my colleague Mr Watson would ask you about this earlier. In his intervention in the House on 6 July, he suggested that the News of the World wrote that there was a "left…message on her voicemail after the 13-year-old vanished at 4pm on March 21… on March 27—six days after Milly went missing in Walton-on-Thames, Surrey…the employment agency appears to have phoned her mobile." Given the importance of the Milly Dowler story, the seriousness of which has already been alluded to, did you ask how you managed to get that information? REBEKAH BROOKS: As I've said, the most important thing in the case of Milly Dowler is that we get to the truth of the allegations as quickly as possible. Those who are culpable, if it turns out to be true, should face not only opprobrium, but correct justice through the legal system. I am very mindful that I have to be careful of what I say because of what I know and because of the criminal investigations. The fact is, and I can only keep saying this, the suggestion that Milly Dowler's voicemails were intercepted by someone working for the News of the World, or someone on the News of the World, is unknown to me. It is abhorrent to me, which is all I can tell you. Q540 COFFEY: I accept that, but I will press a little further. Given that there is a specific reference in the story, I am surprised that more questions were not asked at the time. I fully accept that you find it abhorrent. REBEKAH: Just accept that, perhaps, nine years ago, when the story was run—I am told now that the story you are referring to was a single column on page 9—I am sure questions were asked about where that information came from. They will have been asked of the reporter or they will have been asked of the news editor. The night editor and the lawyer would have checked them, and there would have been a process around every story, whether it was a single column or the front page, to determine where the information came from. I can tell you now that it would not have been the case that someone said, "Oh yes, that came from an illegal voicemail interception." It seems now that it is inconceivable that people did not know this was the case, but at the time it wasn't a practice that was condoned or sanctioned at the News of the World under my editorship. That is all I can tell you. Q541 COFFEY: Mr Watson went on to suggest that you were "present at a meeting with Scotland Yard when police officers pursuing a murder investigation provided her with evidence that her newspaper was interfering with the pursuit of justice." He particularly mentioned the name of another senior executive, Alex Marunchak, and also said: "At the meeting, which included Dick Fedorcio of the Metropolitan police, she was told that News of the World staff were guilty of interference and party to using unlawful means to attempt to discredit a police officer and his wife." Can you tell us more about that meeting? REBEKAH: I can tell you something about it. I was recently asked, by Channel 4, I think, to recall a meeting that I had had at Scotland Yard in 2002. My recollection of that meeting was entirely different. My recollection is that the meeting was on a completely different subject. I am only going on what I was told by Channel 4. They say it was a meeting was in November. That is what was put to me. I checked my diary as much as possible, and there was no meeting in November. However, there was a subsequent meeting in very early January. It may be that it was that meeting, but that is not my recollection of the meeting. On the other hand, because of the Sarah's law campaign, I had pretty regular meetings at Scotland Yard, mainly with the paedophile unit there. Q542 COFFEY: Rupert Murdoch said he relied on his lieutenants, people he trusted. He referred to Les Hinton as someone with whom he would trust his life. Who would you trust who worked for you? REBEKAH: I think the newsroom of any newspaper is based on trust. If you think about—I am sure that Mr Farrelly will agree with this—the way that a story gets published, of course it is on trust. You rely on the people who work for you to behave in a proper manner, and you rely on the clarity of information that you are given at the time. That is why I can be so absolute with the Committee today about the interception of Milly Dowler's voicemail, from my own personal view—again, not commenting on what other people knew at the time. So when you say, "Who do I trust?", the whole newsroom and the whole basis of the newsroom is based on trust. For example, at The Sun, if Trevor Kavanagh, who was my political editor when I was editor of The Sun, came to me with a story, I knew it to be true. I didn't need to ask which MP or which Cabinet Minister had leaked him the story, I just knew it to be true because of the standing that Trevor Kavanagh has, and his experience as a journalist. Again, you could say that is based on trust, but that is how it works. Q543 COFFEY: Mr Mulcaire seems to have implicated himself in his own public statements about the Milly Dowler situation. REBEKAH: Yes. Q544 COFFEY: Who else, from what you now know that you didn't know before, do you believe is likely to be convicted of crimes? REBEKAH: Well again, I think that would be— Q545 COFFEY: I have just been told I cannot ask that. REBEKAH: I was just going to say, I think that would be slightly—none of us here should be judge and jury. I don't think I should answer that. Q546 COFFEY: Many of us are called on to serve on juries. Okay. Who else knows what you now know, who either still works at News International or has left its employ in the last month? It seems there has been a team that's pulled together. Who could you say, yes, done that? REBEKAH: The process of the criminal investigation started when we handed over documentation that we had found. All that documentation has been shared with the management and standards committee of News International that, as James and Rupert Murdoch referred to, report in directly to the board of News Corporation, and they are independent from News International for that particular reason. Obviously, all the legal team working on this know about it, and also the police are aware of everything that we are aware. Q547 COFFEY: Just to clarify, would that group of people include anyone who has previously given evidence to our Committee, or predecessor Committee? People like Colin Myler or Les Hinton? They are the names that I can think of off the top of my head. REBEKAH: Actually, probably not, no. Because the management and standards committee was about the current management—so chief executive and my current executives would know about. Q548 COFFEY: Final question from me: do you have any regrets about any of the headlines that you have done, now that you have been in the spotlight yourself? You have been subject to quite a lot of media spotlight. Does this make you regret any one at all? REBEKAH: I don't think that you would find any editor in Fleet Street who did not feel that with some headlines that they had published, they had made some mistakes, and I am no different to that—there have been mistakes. On the other hand, despite, as you say, being in the spotlight recently and having read lots of criticism that is justified and lots of criticism that was totally spurious, I would defend the right of a free press from my entire career. I think it is vital to us and, yes, it hasn't been particularly pleasant. It was one of the main reasons that I wanted to leave, because I felt that I was detracting from the amazing journalists and media executives and all the people who work in News International. I felt that I was detracting from their incredibly good work. We have a very robust and diverse press in this country, covering all spectrums and all opinions. I think the freedom of that press should be ensured for ever more. I hope that Parliament continues to do that.